Removable magnetic disk has been widely used in computer systems as data storage. The disk can be inserted and removed through the disk inserting slot on the disk drive.
Fans are often used to move the cooling air cross the electronics devices in the disk drive and other components of the computer system to disperse the heat they generated. Usually the cooling air enters from the front and exhausts to the back of the enclosure of the computer system. Majority of the commercially available personal computers move the cooling air in said direction. The disk inserting slot of the disk drive becomes an intake of the cooling air. The cooling air flows in the disk inserting slot and passes directly cross the electronic devices in the disk drive behind the slot, carries out the heat they generated. By virtue of fact that the electronic devices in the disk drive operate in lower temperature, the reliability improves. However dust suspended in the air also enters the disk drive through the disk inserting slot. The dust may settle and accumulate on the parts of the disk drive. The disk drive employs one or more optical interrupters to detect the proper insertion and operation of the disk. When the dust accumulates on the lens of the optical interrupters, it blocks and weakens the light passing through the lens. A medium accumulation may cause intermittent malfunction of the disk drive. A heavy accumulation results complete failure of the disk drive. The dust settled and accumulated on the magnetic read/write head of the disk may scratch the magnetic media coating of the disk or even the magnetic read/write head itself when the head pressed onto the surface of the rotating disk during read or write operation. The scratches on the disk make portion of the disk useless. If the scratches happen to be on the portion of the disk containing recorded data, the data recorded on the scratched part of the disk become non-retrievable. Very often it makes the whole data file useless. The loss of important data has been proven to be very costly to recover if not impossible. The scratches on the very delicate surface of the magnetic read/write head may cause permanently damage and require costly repair.
Some devices has been developed to prevent the dust from entering the disk drive.
A door like device is available commercially for covering the face of disk drive or even the entire disk panel of the computer system. It does prevent the dust from entering the disk drive by blocking the air from entering the disk inserting slot. But it also stops the useful cooling air flow from entering the disk inserting slot to disperse the heat generated by the electronic devices inside of the disk drive. The electronic devices may overheat as a result. The reliability of the disk drive sacrifices, and the overheat condition may even cause damage.
Some disk drive manufacturers provide a protective board for use during transportation of the disk drive to prevent magnetic read/write head from damage due to vibration, but it provides no protection against dust.